Vulnerable modems need security cover

Posted August 11th, 2017, 10:52 AM IST

Hyderabad: Promotion of BSNL staff has became an impediment in rectifying modems that were attacked by botnets late last month.

BSNL had promoted 300 mechanics as JTOs in TS and AP circles, nearly 150 of them to Hyderabad telecom district. These new JTOs did not attend to customer complaints.

Ultimately, BSNL requested customers to take their affected modems to the customer service centers for a quick resolution of the problem.

Mr Sandeep Mudalkar, cyber crime consultant to the TS and AP police, said the botnet attack was a lesson on how hackers destroy networks by targeting modems.

“Botnet is a group of devices connected to the internet to inject the malware by autogenerating bots or zombies through specific codes,” Mr Mudalkar said. It targets user details and obtains admin privileges of devices like PCs, smartphones, tablets, routers, modems or even smart toys and turns them into zombies and takes control, he said.